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any general or comprehensive division; a class.
a classificatory division in any field of knowledge, as a phylum or any of its subdivisions in biology.
Metaphysics.

(in Aristotelian philosophy) any of the fundamental modes of existence, such as substance, quality, and quantity, as determined by analysis of the different possible kinds of predication.
(in Kantian philosophy) any of the fundamental principles of the understanding, as the principle of causation.
any classification of terms that is ultimate and not susceptible to further analysis.

categories, Also called Guggenheim. (used with a singular verb) a game in which a key word and a list of categories, as dogs, automobiles, or rivers, are selected, and in which each player writes down a word in each category that begins with each of the letters of the key word, the player writing down the most words within a time limit being declared the winner.
Mathematics. a type of mathematical object, as a set, group, or metric space, together with a set of mappings from such an object to other objects of the same type.
Grammar. part of speech.
Contemporary Examples

Well-known defectors from fundamentalist Christianity—musicians, writers, preachers—sort roughly into two categories.
Frank Schaeffer, the Atheist Who Believes in God Nick Tabor August 2, 2014

We measured each slice across the four categories available for each eatery: calories, saturated fat, sodium, and carbohydrates.
The 30 Deadliest Pizza Slices The Daily Beast September 11, 2010

They are registered in four categories that I can operate in.
The Original Apple Icon Anthony Haden-Guest October 5, 2010

In some categories, we saw how the Blekko approach could make it competitive with the big names.
Testing the New Google Killer Thomas E. Weber November 2, 2010

Four categories separate the felines: cat comedy, catventure, pursuit of food and treats, and rescue cat.
The Friskies Awards Aim to Find the Next Internet Cat Star October 15 Kelsey Meany September 21, 2013

Historical Examples

Also, in its affirmative and categorical forms it has already been made to yield two other categories.
A Commentary to Kant’s ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ Norman Kemp Smith

We do not confuse the parts of speech with the categories of Logic.
Cratylus Plato

Nor is it logical to declare the categories to be indescribable.
The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya Translator: George Thibaut

These were the two categories that comprehended all her theory.
The Daltons, Volume II (of II) Charles James Lever

So is it, prior to experience, with the categories into which our experience comes to be inserted.
Creative Evolution Henri Bergson

noun (pl) -ries
a class or group of things, people, etc, possessing some quality or qualities in common; a division in a system of classification
(metaphysics) any one of the most basic classes into which objects and concepts can be analysed

(in the philosophy of Aristotle) any one of ten most fundamental modes of being, such as quantity, quality, and substance
(in the philosophy of Kant) one of twelve concepts required by human beings to interpret the empirical world
any set of objects, concepts, or expressions distinguished from others within some logical or linguistic theory by the intelligibility of a specific set of statements concerning them See also category mistake

n.

1580s, from Middle French catégorie, from Late Latin categoria, from Greek kategoria “accusation, prediction, category,” verbal noun from kategorein “to speak against; to accuse, assert, predicate,” from kata “down to” (or perhaps “against;” see cata-) + agoreuein “to harangue, to declaim (in the assembly),” from agora “public assembly” (see agora). Original sense of “accuse” weakened to “assert, name” by the time Aristotle applied kategoria to his 10 classes of things that can be named.

category should be used by no-one who is not prepared to state (1) that he does not mean class, & (2) that he knows the difference between the two …. [Fowler]